Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened.

Finally, the long awaited rains have come, Portugal is grateful for them!  As Kei puts it, “Gold from the sky!”

Bobbie, Diane and Paul met for their last classes today.  As expected, leaving was not easy.  They are very fortunate students to have had such perceptive and innovative teachers.  It was a very good match, as the teachers were rewarded with wonderful feedback and rewarding results.  Electronics will be soothing the pangs of parting; how different from the era of the love letters from Portugal.

Joe and Mary were, also, rewarded for sharing their expertise and faceted experiences with a variety of students – varying in age and levels of education.  They spoke often of the pessimism of their older students in not having rewarding careers and dim futures.  Yet there were some upbeat moments and classes.

Reba brought out the inner person in a number of young students by using her experience in teaching.  She appears to have opened them more to their potential by personal contact – all three quite young.

Arleen has certainly learned much from Joaquin – his being so open to learning pronunciation – so difficult for the Portuguese.  Just conversing and slowly correcting small pronunciations and tenses.

A quick note of appreciation to our indefatigable team leader for all the work he has done and experience he has shared with us.

Do not be sad that it is over.  Be happy that it happened.

Nearing the End

Thursday dawned blue and bright with the promise of another memorable day in Beja.  The countdown has begun to the end of our journey, and the realization that we will be arriving back home a little wiser, a little more humble and a lot more full.

Reba had a good afternoon tutoring one-on-one with her 3 students.  She used a variety of teaching tricks including everything from her candid pictures to “Mary-Had-A-Little-Lamb.”   Her future futbol player-student along with Manuel and Raquel all showed progress from the previous session.

Arlene continued her tutoring with “Ke” which has turned into quite the renaissance session, with discussions on literature, poetry, and philosophy and even a little Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Laurel and Hardy thrown in.   Sounds like a lively discussion.

Mary and Joe had an interesting tutoring experience…teaching English to 11 teachers at the Santa Maria school.  The levels were all basic to advance but one take-away they had is the sadness about how possessing a negative attitude, such as the one displayed by a young teacher, can impact your life, and those around you.   Unfortunately, that type of thinking has the same affect the world over…but can be especially harmful in a country like Portugal.

Joe continued his Portuguese Ringling Brothers routine with Barbara’s granddaughter and her friend…which resulted in a relaxed yet productive tutoring session with lots and lots of laughs.  He rounded out his day by joining Luis at the library for a couple of hours of conversation.

The Polytechnic Trio (Bobbie, Diane and Paul) had an inspirational and emotional day with each of their two classes presenting their end-of-class reports.  Each student talked about influences in their lives and we heard many wonderful stories about books, movies, songs and, of course, the special people that played a role in our special students’ lives.  There were some very emotional moments and each student had a “break-through”, no matter how small or large, in being able to stand in front of the class and be vulnerable and confident as they “thought and talked” in English.   Quite the day indeed!

The Beja team capped off Thursday with a lovely hosted dinner at the Santa Maria school…although with a couple of empty tables, we were not quite sure who else was supposed to be there.  But that did not matter as the food was delicious and was served in a very quaint setting by a friendly and very proud school staff.  We were entertained by the effervescence of Carlos, serenaded by Ke, and some of us were given an exclusive private tour of the Science lab by our new friend Oracio…who has been working for 53 years in Beja… and for 29 years at this school.  What a charmer!

On our return to the hotel, we could reflect on what a charming place Beja is…and nature seemed to agree….as she provided a much needed gift of rain to our special home with its warm and wonderful heart.  It truly was a good night for all.

Wine Tour

Joe, Carlos, Francisco (the driver), Joe, Mary, Arleen and myself went on a mystery trip organized by Carlos.  We went to Albernoa today.  We saw orange trees, olive trees and grape vines.  The orange trees were loaded with oranges.  Arleen could hardly contain herself. 

We arrived at the Cascado Santa Vitoria Winery in time for a tour.  Took lots of pictures of the storks at the winery.  They do not migrate anymore, but stay in the same location.  The making of wine is very interesting and complicated.  Eighty percent of the grapes are picked by hand, some by machine.  They still stomp some of the grapes with their feet.  We saw a video of them doing this.  They are measured by their acidity, color, alcohol level and bouquet.  The temperature and humidity must be balanced.  The oak barrels are used for 4 years and then sold.  They are purchased from France and cost $500 - $600.  The wine is aged 9-14 months.  They have 118 acres in grapes and 100 acres in olives.  They use only their own grown grapes in winemaking.  We visited the wine cellar and shown a video about winemaking.  We then had a wine tasting period.  Afterwards, we toured the premises. 

We left for a delicious lunch of beef stew (except for Arleen who had eggs).  Lunch was at Dom Raphals.  On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a Roman excavation site.  It was very interesting and had beautiful tiles.  Instead of paying the driver for his time and van, we made a contribution to the local blood bank.

Another Great Day

Another great weather day in Beja – clear skies and perhaps 72 degrees.

Joe and I had a few hours of free time in the morning.  We visited the Municipal Museum which had an excellent interpretive handout in English.  Well worth the one eruo (retired person entrance fee) which also includes entrance to the Roman ruins museum just around the corner.

Joe tutored Barbara’s granddaughter and her friend for an hour before joining me at the library.  My first assignment was with a college student of molecular biology who was working on a presentation on medical ethics.  Carlos introduced me to this student.  He seems to know just about everyone in town.  Secondly, Joe joined me to “tutor” our new friend, Luis.  He is an economics professor at D. Manual I High School.  His English is outstanding, but he loves to converse in English on any topic.  He was the generous man who drove us to the festival of the river fish on Sunday.

Reba had three long hours – one hour each with middle school age students.  She used a National Geographic magazine with one student to work on vocabulary and pronunciation.  With another student who was her most difficult challenge of the afternoon, she tried flashcards.  Family pictures worked well with her third student.

The Polytechnico trio reported a smaller group in their morning session as the professors in their class have meetings on Tuesday.  The smaller group allowed more in depth discussion on current events.  In the afternoon they worked on vocabulary building with an exercise in which the students would view pictures and name items that begin with a “K, F and P” with emphasis on a silent first letter, such as “knee”. 

We ended the day at the chicken and fish place accompanied by the ever present futbol game on TV.

A Warm and Crisp Day

Monday morning was crisp and sunny and I looked forward to at least three more days of clear sky and Beja warmth.

Bobbie, Paul and I repeated our routine of walking to the Polytechnic Institute, and solidifying our class plans on the way.  We have become so familiar with Beja that we didn’t hesitate to take a new route. 

Our dedicated students come into class with sincere greetings and continued enthusiasm.  Both students and teachers shared their weekend adventures.  A short discussion on current events followed and we then presented the main project for the day – “If you won ten million euros, what would you do with it?”  The answers were thoughtful and revealing.  Some responses were:

-      travel around the world with family and friends (one student offered to send us tickets to join them)

-      see the seven wonders of the world

-      invest the money to secure a good future

-      have my own business in cork production and sell products in America; this would help my country to be recognized in the world market

-      build a pediatric hospital

-      earn higher education degrees and pay off houses for family and friends; nothing extravagant

-      drive Route 66 in USA

-      invest money and start a company to promote Portugal and Alentejo

Reba and Arleen started new assignments for this week.  Reba worked with an 11 year old boy.  She had no problems and enjoyed the session.  Her other student did not show up.  Arleen met with her adult student, Kee, and said he taught her more than she taught him.  Kee is full of an incredible amount of information, but Arleen will help him improve his pronunciation of the English language.

I’m already feeling melancholy at leaving Beja.  I have to make the most of the time that is left.

Politics and Games

Paul, Diane and Bobbie greeted their morning class at the Instituto Politécnico de Beja with “T.G.I.F.” – another new slang expression to add to their growing list.

A serious discussion about religion in the U.S. followed as a student wanted to know how we manage with so many different religions in our country.  Topics covered ranged from separation of church and state, the religion of presidential candidates, to discussion of the Amish (a religion or culture?) to cults, Jim Jones and Kool-Aid.

On a lighter note, we switched gears to our planned “game day” and played a vocabulary building game known to the students as “Stop”.  We grouped them in pairs and passed out a sheet with the following headings:

     Animal   /   City   /   Clothing   /   Job   /   Food   /   We Are

F    Fox      Frankfurt      Fly        Fireman    Fries    Fabulous

We gave them a letter and they would write an English word in each column with that letter.  The first team to complete all categories would yell “stop”.  They loved playing this game and we promised to play it again next week.

We repeated the same activities in the afternoon class.  In just one week’s time, we could see an amazing improvement in our students’ confidence when speaking English.

Joe and Mary had an “exceptionally unusual” class on Friday as they met their new students in the Senior Institute.  Each student’s introduction lasted more than twenty minutes with one student tracing his family history back to the 1700’s! 

Reba and Arleen continued their teaching at Santa Maria Middle School.  They had four classes of the 5^th, 6^th and 8^th grades.  While their students seemed to know the English alphabet, they needed help with the letters’ sounds.  Both Reba and Arleen used flash cards with the students.

Our Friday night celebration dinner was a treat at the 25^th of April Restaurant where their specialty was “black pig”.

Strike Day

Mary and Joe's day at the Dom Manuel I secondary school was informative, interesting and frustrating.  Today was Greve Geral (National General Strike), and it affected the school day. 

Workers around the country are protesting the economic impacts resulting from the Portuguese Government's acceptance of the terms of the European Union's bailout.  Workers are unhappy with their economic situation as compared to those of many politicians and upper level bureaucrats (99% vs.1%).  They say they are losing economic ground, and cannot afford to live.  They are paying higher taxes and prices for basic products, and working longer hours for less pay.

ln the morning we noticed the streets and school halls were quieter and emptier than usual.  Students were grouped outside the school, we assume, waiting to see if the school was going to be open.  (The teacher of our first class was 15 minutes late because she was waiting with her son at his school to see if he would have school today.  He did.)  At all of our daytime classes, our teachers were in the classroom because as one said: I can't afford to stay home.  Our evening adult class was cancelled because that teacher was on strike.  (This was not a surprise to us because she is an active member of the opposition political party.)

The daily teaching experience was good as usual.  We not only taught the students in grades 7, 8 and 9 but also we learned from them and their teachers.  The students were more rowdy than earlier in the week because this was their last day of formal classes prior to the 2-week Easter Vacation.

On the way home from the afternoon class just a short distance from the team hotel, a protest rally was underway.  There were speeches, singing and flag waving; none of which we really understood in detail, but could use our imaginations as to content.  We also had a short chat with one of our night students who worked 27 years at the prison, who was attending the rally.

Arlene and Reba had an abbreviated day at Santa Maria school because of evaluations and one strike related cancelled class.  Bobbie, Diane and Paul had a normal work day at the Polytechnic Institute with little student strike related discussion.

After the daily evening meeting the team went to an Italian restaurant for a fulfilling dinner.

Finding Warmth

Brrr – the mornings are chilly – bright and welcoming – but chilly.  By the time coffee and tea have worked their magic we are on the “literally” rocky road to wherever we ply our trade.  That warms us faster than the beverages.

Joe and Mary meet with their high school students and set them on fire – that being just the beginning of their day.

Diane and Paul  went off to continue their student stimulation with active vital discussions on modern topics of interest to young adults.  We are as excited at hearing their lesson plans as the students are – bringing forth the best of them.

Reba and Arleen go to their middle school classes at Santa Maria where spelling bees were held all day to determine the winner of each class.  The winner goes on to the finals.  Each student chooses a word out of a tin then spells it – the proper pronunciation of each letter being the aim.  After 3 rounds the winner is champ.  Reba and Arleen helped out in four classes – Reba left me for one period to become acquainted with one of Joao’s classes.

Joe and Mary with their long hours and interesting classes (up to 51 students in the evening classes) are kept hopping with discussions of environment, life styles, diet and nutrition – picking up hints from the students as well as teaching them.

It was the first time in a while we all went to dinner together – our Global/Beja family – a dinner without wine but with so much warmth – and so to bed – warm and fuzzy.

We are all beautiful

Our second morning in Beja dawned cool and crisp with a bright blue sky.  This was a positive foreshadowing of the day to come.

As we all awoke to the tranquility of a small Portuguese town, we all began to realize the transition we had made from our chaotic lives of the United States to the beauty and chaos that is Lisbon.   We now move closer to the “target” or  bulls-eye of this project as we are enveloped with the charm and uniqueness that is Beja.  

And this Tuesday brought many great opportunities and surprises as we explored our new community and its members.

Reba and Arlene had a good day impacting 91 students and had a lot of fun comparing their respective states of Colorado (Arlene) and New Jersey (Reba).  They found the interactive board a wonderful tool to bring their learning alive and to shout out a “howdy” from a cowboy.

Mary and Joe experienced the thrill of “National English Day” and were able to participate by providing the students an education on the American Thanksgiving story.  They continued their very full day by teaching adults in the evening and were very impressed by the commitment and energy these folks have to learn English from native speakers.

Paul and Diane had an equally impactful and insightful day the Polytechnic Institute.  The morning class was filled with an in-depth discussion on prejudice, along with the origins of racism and entitlement.  This all led to the final call-out for all members of the global community to become self-aware.   That is the first step to help dilute prejudice and racism in the world.  And it starts in communities like Beja.

Both the morning and afternoon classes participated in a very interactive exercise called “Desert Island.”  Each group had to select 6 members of the society to “save” in order to start a new community on a desert island.  The choices made of a doctor, nurse, priest, pop singer and others all elicited laughs yet very important and serious debate.  Bottom-line, the students demonstrated the ability to “think” in English and have more confidence in talking in front of the class.

At the end of the day, we all gathered and enjoyed our second Portuguese lesson with Joaquin along with a short history of Portugal over the last few hundreds of years.

Dinner was a filling event with wonderful food and conversation but a little too filling for the time of night.  Key word: family style. 

Reba gave us all a gift by telling us earlier that one of her students that day had told her “she was beautiful.”  I reflected on that gift as I retired for the night.  Aren’t we all beautiful in some way no matter what situation we find ourselves in?  How do we continue to find that inner beauty in everyone?

And critical to the servant traveler in all of us, that beauty comes from our ability to make a small yet critical difference in this part of our global community.  And another day awaits…

Class Begins

Joe walked with me to school where I met Joao.  Joao took me on a tour of the school.  I was impressed.  It was very clean and appeared to be child oriented.  A lot of the children’s artwork was displayed.  After the tour I met with Regina, a fifth grade teacher and we went to her room.  Class began immediately.  The children worked on comprehension and sentence structure.  Joe met me in the lobby and tried to show me an easy way to come back to the hotel.  We had lunch at one o’clock at a local snack bar.  Arleen and I went for a walk around the area.  We checked out the carousal, shops, etc.  We had a meeting with Joe at 6:30 and each of us told about our day – the plusses and minuses.  We met with Joaquin for our first lesson in Portuguese.  It was very interesting.  After our lesson we went to the Restaurant Romano for a delicious dinner of tuna, pork, rice, french fries, veggies and a choice of rice pudding or fruit.  We came back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep in anticipation of a successful Tuesday teaching conversational English.

Getting Acquainted

Today was about getting acquainted, coming together as a team and focusing on specific goals. 

It began with our bus journey to Beja – our home away from home for the next two weeks.  During our travels we witnessed the natural beauty of the Alentejo Region of Portugal – endless fields of cork and olive trees, vineyards and nesting storks.

After checking into the Residencial Bejense, we gathered for orientation.  Brief introductions proved this was quite a diverse group, but with one common thread – to share and to serve.

Our meeting ended with a visit by Paula Lunca and her son Jose.  Paula welcomed the group and briefly reviewed the history of Global Volunteers in Beja.  She answered questions about the various schools, schedules and what to expect during the next two weeks.

Dinner at the Tem Avondo Restaurant, a favorite among previous teams, was welcomed by all.  We were treated to a feast of traditional foods, vino and wonderful desserts.

My intuition tells me that we will accomplish much during the next two weeks and be richer for it.

If we had known how the day would end, we would have greeted the Beja sun with more than our usual enthusiasm. We went off to our school assignments – some to have sad partings as they received beautiful remembrance gifts of the city and school in which they volunteered; others to have only the satisfaction of contributing to and creating a bridge to world peace as they conducted their last classes and said goodbye.

A few who had the “ritual” of lunch at Capitel wished (adios) to Pedro and other acquaintances.
Others were able to join our Pensao hosts Barbara and her son Hugo who had invited all of us to lunch at the restaurant next door. Barbara’s daughter-in-law and granddaughter who had been tutored by Marcia joined us.

When we were served the traditional meal, we gave a thank you and goodbye toast to our hosts and to Beja. The final touch was the traditional dessert, very sweet but beautiful to look at with the golden egg yolk color. Judy and I had to leave the others to leisurely after dinner conversation and more toasts. We had our final class at Escola Secundaria com 3 de Ciclo D. Manuel de Beja. Lucilia’s tourism class of reluctant learners became quite motivated as
we engaged them in role playing hotel receptionists and guests. We left the school on a most pleasant note. It was a very quiet place at 4 pm on Friday.

Judy took some final pictures of Beja as we walked back to Pensao Residencial Bejense.

THEN [drum roll} there was dinner at Pousada de Dao Francisco, one of several monasteries which have become part of Pousadas de Portugal. What a delightfully Portuguese dining room and what an elegant presentation of mixed salad followed by saltimbocca {chicken breast with smoked ham and potatoes) and ending with encharcada (the traditional eggs and sugar dessert). Of course, vinhos nao incluidos. The marvelous feast was followed by a brief wrap up program
in the moonlit garden by the pool.

The final [piece de resistance] Joanie and Bea regaled us with the “Last Will and Testament for those who Remain and come after them.” Filled with laughter and tears we
gave them a standing ovation.

The heat wave continues, but so too the shady spots and the
cooling breezes. Mornings and evenings are the perfect time for walking, shopping and sightseeing provided our teaching schedules permit (often they do).

The Global teaching volunteers at Escola de Santiago were treated to a formal dinner at lunch time yesterday, all planned, prepared and served by students in the service program. Our
five-course meal was delectable, beautifully served, and greatly enjoyed and appreciated. A number of staff members joined us for this special event. The second year program students wore uniforms that they had previously selected for the school. Likewise, the china
plates had been selected. They had a small picture of the school at the top of each plate. Elegance prevailed!

Festivities continued on Thursday (along with the heat!) The local coordinating staff and
community members collaborated with our group leader to serve a traditional Portuguese meal at Escola De Santa Maria. A number of teachers from the schools where we volunteer also
attended. We all missed out teammate Joanne, who had to leave this afternoon for her flight back home to Hawaii. The evening events at Escola de Santa Maria ended late. Anyone needing
or wanting a ride back to the hotel was provided with such by the Beja teachers. Yes, hospitality features strongly here in Beja. We have enjoyed an extra special volunteering opportunity because of the friendly, helpful, interesting teachers, hotel staff, and community members we have had the pleasure of interacting with.

First I will tell you my impressions of Beja and our beautiful hotel, The Residencial, and then I will tell you about my day at school, Santa Maria.

From my first look at Beja, I fell in love. It is all I imagined this part of the world would be: narrow winding streets of small pavers set in patterns, Moorish architecture, shops intermingled with colorful doors leading into homes, magnificent tiled walls, the ever-blue Portuguese sky.
There are many parks, clean of debris as are the streets, with lovely old trees, many with fountains.

Our family-owned hotel is charming, tiny but bright and decorated with interesting pieces of art collected, I understand, when the family lived in Angola. Every morning we meet for breakfast in the maroon breakfast room and eat on trays with embroidered placemats. The very narrow front of the Residencial features an ancient blooming bougainvillea and the rooms on this façade have Juliet balconies. Unbelievably there is a chocolate shop two doors away.

Besides the chocolate shop, our street has many small shops; some have very trendy clothes and shoes. From the windows of these shops, it looks as though the children of Beja
are the well-dressed children of Portugal. Many shops have a strange conglomeration of goods – from fishing poles to jewelry to pots and pans.

Every morning I walk to Escola de Santa Maria. It is about a 25 minute walk which I enjoy. I have never discovered a direct path to the school through the twisting disjointed streets of Beja but I know how to get close enough to see the walking backpacked kids and so follow them. The less than 20 year old building is large and would be rather stark and institutional if it weren’t for the art work of the students on the classroom walls and in the corridors. There are 900 students ranging from three-year-olds to late teenagers; the younger children study in a separate building.

My classes are for the most part pupils who have been learning English from one to four years.
After the first day, they are responsive and eager. They are very curious about me and about the
United States. They seem to understand my use of a simple vocabulary; I try to get them to answer my questions using sentences which, with prompting, they are able to do. From what I can tell, English language is taught here somewhat blended with social studies with emphasis on the European Union Countries.

Another beautiful Beja day – wonderfully cool and pleasant morning and evening, blisteringly hot and sunny mid-day. The locals have assured us that “isto nao e comum." But probably we won’t have a chance to find out.

Joanne and I are quite warmly greeted by our students at Escola Bento de Jesus Carala as they
wait for class. They like us to take their picture which we are, of course, happy to do. In class we have been more integrated this week helping the students one on one form questions on a reading passage, then answer them. While I don’t have much experience with kids this age (15-19) they seem to be very sweet (not a term I think they would like.)

Unfortunately these kids had trouble in other schools and are here in a “last chance” situation.
They must pass each term in each subject for three years. They can repeat (which some have done several times) but there are limits. Apparently individual tutoring is not available.
Sadly they do not seem to understand how paying attention in school will matter to their future. Like kids they’ll worry about the future manana.

Joanne and I have also had sessions with Katarina, the 10 year-old granddaughter of Barbara, owner of Residencial Bejense. The highlight of yesterday was her arrival for “class” with not one, not two, but three friends: Margarita, Maryana, and Diana. Between bouts of giggles we had the girls tell us a bit about their families, worked with flash cards, and listened and
helped as they took turns reading. I was astonished when I asked if they would like to sing a song for us. They all jumped up, whispered excitedly for a few moments, lined up and animatedly sang a song in excellent English, something about red, yellow, green: stop, wait, go, and traveling in a car, a plane, a train, a jeep, a helicopter, and a motor scooter. Then they all patiently allowed Phyllis to direct us in a photo shoot. For me, it was truly delightful, as I don’t interact with kids a lot and didn’t know it could be so much fun.

The team continues to be very well taken care of. Meals are more than adequate, generally very tasty, with a mix of familiar favorites and traditional Portuguese. Fish and pork, including the infamous ‘pig on a stick,’ are wonderful. Hotel staff continues to keep our “home: clean and comfortable.

Several of us have tried valiantly to help the local economy with limited success. Fortunately we
were ale to procure a few actual “made in Portugal” souvenirs in Evora and Monseraz.

Beja feels like a really small town. We see our students everywhere and some of the same locals everyday at the Capitol. The men having coffee each morning next door are familiar and then there is the ubiguitaus carbs. We are becoming part of the fabric of the community just when it is almost time for us to leave.

Back to work after our various and exhausting weekend adventures. The IP Beja team of Janice and Keith began the day with the discovery that the library was closed on Monday morning. Unfortunately the posted notice did not define “morning.”

Phyllis came to the rescue with her snooze-alarm cell phone and called to discover that morning ends at 2:30 pm. With some pleading Phyllis got us in through the library’s back door so we could prepare the day’s lesson. A little VIP treatment is always appreciated.

A small group of us met at Capitol for lunch. By now we know that baguette sordeix chex
arrive immediately but toasted involve a long, tortuous wait. Pedro showed up as usual for his daily lunch time dose of English conversation. I admire this kid for his ambition. I just don’t know how to tell him he is not likely to find a regular Skype partner in this group.

Classes at IP Beja went well. We are grateful for our loyal core of regular students and realize that the start of the school year means some can’t attend regularly. Teachers fret about the
stress of beginning classes and the festive feeling of a new semester for the students is apparent.

We get approval from Maria, our school contact, for the end of class project that Janice has devised. We have high hopes of ending this inaugural program on a positive note. We hear vague rumblings of satisfaction among the students, which is encouraging.

Peggy and Tim, the Cuba crew, were invited to their school director’s home for fresh-killed wild rabbit dinner. Who could refuse? The description of the food and the suburban house with pools had us all in envy. This is another new site for Global Volunteers and from the sound of it, things look promising for a return engagement.

Sleep came easy on Monday night. Mercifully.

The weekend was filled with adventure for all the volunteers. The two Kathleens, “Jo-knee” and Peggy spent Saturday and Sunday in Lisbon. Kathleen A. met her niece who is studying in Spain and they toured the city together via an open bus. The others went on a
“forced road march” to the Alfama historical district and Belem. Afterward they took a bus tour to Sintra and the coast. Seven other volunteers hired a bus and got a guided tour of Evora.
Tim and Keith opted to spend the night there while Marcia, Joanne, Janice, Brenda, and Beatrice continued with their tour guide to the small, charming Portuguese village of Monseraz that overlooks Spain. Meanwhile, back in Beja Constance and Judy toured the local museums and totally enjoyed Beja’s ambience. The weekend’s cultural experiences will long
be remembered by the team members.

Our day started, as usual, in the breakfast room, as we dashed and drifted in and out, preparing for another work day. Marcia and I set out for Bento de Jesus Carala Escola at a leisurely pace strolling in and out of shops in route to our professional school work-site. Phyllis joined us at the school and in the classroom with our mentor and sweet teacher, Dulce Marques introducing Phyllis to a usually rapt cadre of students.

Our students were animated as the English speaking lessons on proper sentences ensued. Marcia and I assisted by coaching pairs of students who ranged in age from 16 to 18. As class ends the students pose with us for pictures. It’s a happy class and a happy day!

As we join our Global Volunteer colleagues at the Capitol Café for lunch, the village nature of Beja is ever more apparent. Some of our classroom students are at the café, as is “Professor” Carlos, too, to offer his Global Volunteers support. Pedro from the library has joined the tables, eager to practice his conversational English. Familiar faces are all around as we greet, meet and eat across cultures.

Late afternoon brings leisure time to meander and for Marcia and me, a 4pm. Conversational English with Katarina, the granddaughter of Barbara, our hotel owner. Katarina is an eager learner – such a contrast in motivation from some of our vocational students.

After a busy week, we are seemingly ready for a break from the routine, with some showing up an hour early for dinner. Dinner is worthy of an early start. Who would think Black Pig on a stick could be so delicious? And the restaurant soenchanting!We are happy campers as we stroll home, and go off to bed. Sweet dreams, my friends.

We volunteers continue to travel in various directions, off to our assigned schools in Beja and beyond. Some need to arrive by 8:15 am, while others don’t start teaching until 3:00 pm. In spite of our diverse schedules, we are a very harmonious group of 13, and enjoy catching up with
each other at meal times.

Something new for Global Volunteers in Beja is the addition of conversational English classes at IP Beja, the polytechnic university. Keith and Janice teach two classes with up to 30 students in each. The Intermediate-Advanced and Pre-Intermediate classes are comprised of students, former students, community members and IP Beja staff members. The support for this new program has been excellent, with daily meetings with International Language Directors Maria and Joao. They enthusiastically welcome the new courses which were designed in coordination with Global Volunteers. Maria and Joao are eager to supply anything the teachers may need, including copies, a laptop and projector for instruction

While brand new, the program at IP Beja appears to be having an impact. Each day you can see the confidence level of the students rise as they are more and more comfortable with the English language. And other students not currently in the program are already asking how they can sign up for the next session in March 2012.

Another day in beautiful Beja and team 10 will scatter to our varied assignments. Trains, buses, and sturdy feet propel the Global Volunteers on their mission to wage Peace and Social Justice. Peggy and I help promote on the train to Cuba where we confirmed that research shows Cuba, Portugal was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus!!

Our school has primary through 9th grade classes and today started with a small group of 3rd grade students who reviewed their counting skills by making a tally of the tables (14) and chairs
(27) in the classroom. They then learned to identify the pencil, its home the pencil case, the rubber and the pen. One boy observed that the pencil used to live at the Stationery Store. The fifth graders have a better understanding but appear a bit shy about speaking. Questions are
numerous showing great curiosity if not always in English.

We had another wonderful lunch with the Director and a few of the teachers. This is very convivial time with easy questions from us and them. We’ve been invited on a tour of Cuba Monday afternoon and a meal of wild rabbit at someone’s house. This should be a memorable event that strengthens the friendship growing between us.


Dinner was a great mix of pizzas and fun conversations. We close another day with a sense of well earned sleepiness and possibly dreams of great adventures to come.